This is where a person is suffering with a mental illness in conjunction with a drug or alcohol problem. In particular dual diagnoses tend to occur with:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Schizophrenia
• Mood swings

If mental ill health comes first, people may often seek comfort in using alcohol or drugs  If dependency on substance abuse comes first, then people can suffer with mental health issues as they become more disillusioned with life. Combined treatments for this can include:

• Staying off alcohol or drugs, which is known as detoxification
• Counselling, either in a group and/or on a one-to-one basis, for rehabilitation
• Taking appropriate medication
• Checking into a clinic to help get better

Part of the treatment is finding out which came first as the approaches are different depending on whether the mental ill health came first or the substance abuse came first.

It is important to remember that dual diagnosis is rare, but when it does happen it can be a very complex thing to solve and might take longer to deal with than if the diagnosis came up with one or the other.

The person may not realise that they are at risk of further deterioration in their health (phyiscal and/or mental), particularly if the substance abuse came first. As with the singular diagnosis, the support of family and friends is a highly underestimated and highly appreciated benefit. In fact with a dual diagnosis, the support of family and friends is doubly important.